24. The Truth Hurts
TWENTY-FOUR
the truth hurts
When I walk into the back room after dragging in the twenty-three shopping bags full of clothes from Elle’s trip, I find her and Brianna still talking trash about most of Hollywood.
“You’re kidding!”
“Not even a little bit.”
I’ve never heard Brianna let her true feelings out about these famous faces.
“There are some complete ego trips out there. I’m living in the middle of it, and I can still hardly believe it,” she admits.
“Who’s the craziest?” Elle leans forward, the look on her face hopeful to be let in on even more secrets.
“Bree, should you be letting her in on these industry secrets? She might sell them to the highest bidder.” I’m joking. But there is a grain of truth to my words. Elle doesn’t think things through before she does them.
“I would not!” Elle is indignant. She looks back at Brianna, her hand up in a Girl Scout swear. “I would never let these secrets out of this room.”
I might believe her if I didn’t know her so well. Besides, she wasn’t a Girl Scout, so that promise doesn’t apply .
“Elle, I brought in all those bags,” I say, changing the subject. “Hope nothing broke. They were pretty heavy.”
“What!” My sister jumps up from her chair and bolts out of the room. “My Swarovski figurines!”
I was careful. Knowing the type of shopper Elle is, there was bound to be something fragile in those bags. I’m sure nothing broke. But Elle is no longer pumping Brianna for secrets, so mission accomplished.
I resume my spot on the couch next to Brianna, victorious. She immediately returns to lounging with her legs across mine. The show she had on is now turned off. We’re left in comfortable silence.
It’s really too bad I’m about to ruin the moment.
I rub her leg once again as I attempt to broach the topic of my call with Clinton. I take a deep breath in preparation first, because I can still feel my blood pressure soaring from his news.
“I just got off the phone with Clinton,” I finally say.
Brianna immediately stiffens. “What did he say?” There’s tension in her voice, but I can tell she’s trying to act relaxed.
“They caught the guy.”
Brianna launches into an upright position and wraps her arms around my neck. “Are you serious?” The joy in her voice is so strong it takes my breath away. If I didn’t have more to tell her, I’d wrap her up in a kiss to show her just what her happiness does to me.
“Yes, I’m serious. But after questioning the suspect, there’s new information to investigate.”
She pulls away slightly, but I keep my arms around her waist, holding her close.
“He wasn’t the fan. Someone paid him to break in and leave what he left.” I don’t need to give her the specifics about the things he left in her personal space. “Clinton believes someone is using the guise of a stalking fan to scare you for some reason.”
Brianna stares at me in stunned silence for a minute. “So there isn’t a crazy fan trying to kidnap me?” The confusion is plain to hear in her tone .
“Not at this point. He’s following every lead right now though.” I brush the hair away from her face as Brianna’s gaze settles on some point off in the distance. I’m so tired of seeing her have to worry about everything. I wish there was more I could do. “I’m sorry, Bree.”
Her eyes snap to mine. “What in the world are you sorry for? Until you came along, I was basically hiding at home, scared to go anywhere alone, scared of the world outside my bubble.”
My mouth opens to respond, but nothing comes out.
“Zack, it’s because of you that Clinton is even on the track he is. Do you have any idea how much safer I feel now? I mean, look at us! We took a road trip to a ranch town, and I’m staying in your family home! You got me out of that nightmare, even if it is just for a little while. I don’t even know how to thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Bree,” I whisper—a complete contrast to her passionate speech. “This is all I’ve wanted, for you to feel safe. Seeing what the fear was doing to you killed me. This is the first time I’ve ever needed to protect someone the way I need to protect you.”
I learned to protect myself out of basic necessity, but needing to protect Brianna was instinctual; part of my very core.
Both of us fall silent, letting my words fill the air between us. The electric current runs between us stronger than before. Brianna is still worried—that much I know—but I can also sense her strength now. It makes me feel damn good to have been able to turn this corner, even if it was with Clinton’s help.
I run my hand along the curve of her spine, slowing to a stop when I have a handful of her backside. Her fingers carve into my hair, sending jolts of heat everywhere.
God , what this woman has done to me. Her touch lights me on fire.
Our eyes are still locked, our breathing picking up. I know what’s coming next. Or what we both want to come next. But it can’t happen here, dammit. So, to break the best kind of tension a guy can have with the girl he’s falling for, I lean to the side just slightly and kiss her cheek. Then, with my voice only a whisper, I keep my lips next to her ear.
“Go horseback riding out on the property with me.”
Without moving an inch away from my lips, Brianna nods her head slowly, catching her breath a little as she does.
“When?” she whispers.
“Tomorrow morning.” I would take her right this minute, but I want her to see the way the morning light casts off the trees, and the slight steam that seems to rise from the ground as the sun heats the dew. When I was younger, I used to think it was magic in the air.
Plus, there are a few supplies I need to gather first.
I pull away, keeping my eyes from looking into hers. I’m not sure I’ll be ready for the consequences if I see the want in her eyes I’m hearing in her voice. My self-control is stretched thin enough as it is—I can’t handle much more temptation when it comes to Bree. She is the most tempting sight in the world to me. It’s only a matter of time before my every restraint falls away, and I’m swept up in her touch.
“I’ll be ready,” Brianna says as she mercifully rises from straddling my lap. She runs her fingers through my hair once again, sending tingles all the way down my spine, before walking off toward wherever Elle went.
I sit still, rooted in place, and begin planning the perfect day with Brianna.
Much as I hate living in the cold, impersonal fa?ade of Hollywood, I can say with absolute certainty I didnotmiss the small-town vibes we’ve got going on here. Everyone knows everyone else, and you can’t keep anyone out of your business. Anytime I ventured into town when I lived here, all I’d hear about was how Cheryl Hutson was having an affair with the postman—because yes, that’s the kind of 1950s thing that still goes on here—or that the Johnson boy, who was actually a grown man living with his elderly parents, stayed drunk most weekends.
Honestly, if I were fifty-nine and unmarried, living with my parents, and had stayed a perpetual teenager, I’d be drunk all weekend too. Sounds like a really crappy life.
I may have beencontemplatingmoving back home, a total failure at the Hollywood life, but I doubt I would have gone through with it. I wasn’t even feeling like a visit needed to happen anytime soon.
But being here with Brianna, spending time together without all the pressure of being in the spotlight, has made returning home—even to the overexcited scrutiny of the female portion of the family—worth it. Staying on our remote ranch, away from the prying eyes of this stupid town, we’re safer than we would be anyplace else.
Unfortunately, there were a few key items I need for a perfect day with Brianna that I couldn’t find in my mom’s pantry, so into the dreaded town I’ve gone.
I pull up to the only grocery store within fifty miles, next to the only restaurant in as many. We do have five feed supply stores though. When ranching is the main occupation in the area, everything else revolves around it.
I enter the store and wonder when it shrank. Before I moved to LA, I didn’t realize how small this place was. But my gosh, there are only seven aisles. Seven. I honestly don’t remember thinking it was missing anything, but it must be. How could they possibly carry everything?
I can’t even imagine what would happen if a place like this attempted to open in the heart of Hollywood. It wouldn’t last a week. There isn’t even a Starbucks inside. LA is obsessed with the green logo, and no one goes anywhere without the familiar white cup in their hands.
I have no trouble finding the snack section. It’s only one shelf, near the crackers, cookies, cereal, and chips. The choices are limited, but I find some things that will do. Adding them to my cart, I make my way to the candy section two steps away. Just as I’m reaching for a bar of dark chocolate, I hear my name.
“Zack? Is that you?”
And shit, I recognize the voice. Colleen Mackenzie.
I don’t hesitate to turn around. I could never resist Colleen in high school, and it seems some things never change. I have to work really hard not to stumble over my words once I get a look at her.
“Hey, Colleen! How are you?” I was always mesmerized when I saw her back then, struck stupid by my attraction to her, but this time, I nearly take a step back at my lack of attraction. It’s jarring, after being hypnotized by her for the majority of my life, to suddenly be completely unaffected. She’s still just as beautiful, her sparkling blue eyes and golden-blonde hair just as vibrant as her alluring smile.
But I feel nothing for her now.
“I’m good. Finished with my degree and back home with the family. But my life is boring compared to yours now. I’ve seen all the headlines. Dating a superstar? I had no idea you had it in you!”
I get no sense of an ulterior motive from her. She’s genuinely happy for me.
Colleen has always been honest. She never led me on; never made me think I had a chance with her even though that was the dream. Regardless, in my mind, she was the perfect girl for me. Back then, I couldn’t give up hoping.
Today, in the store, I realize my hope is for someone else.
“Yeah, well ...” I run my hand through my hair and look away from her gaze.
I have no words. I don’t want to give anything away. My relationship with Brianna is private, just for us—I don’t need to share the details to boost my ego around Colleen, the girl I used to think was the one who got away.
The thought of looking back on my time with Brianna someday the way I am on my time with Colleen breaks something deep inside. Because I think I’ve just had an earth-shattering realization, here in the candy section of the Grab ‘n’ Go.
I’m in love with Brianna Royce.
In shock at my moment of truth, I snap my attention back to Colleen, who’s looking at me with confusion. I’m anything but confused, now more secure in my feelings for Brianna than I am with anything else in my life. I wonder if I’d be this absolutely sure if I hadn’t run into Colleen. All I want to do now is get back to my girl as fast as I can.
“Great to see you, Colleen, but I’ve got to run.” I lean forward and give her a quick goodbye hug. I’ve never been so grateful she rejected me.
“Um, yeah. Bye.”
She still sounds confused, but I don’t have time to clue her in. I rush my items to the cashier—an older woman, named Marjorie, with a smirk on her face. She’s in a Bunco group with my mom. Kind of a cougar. And I don’t have time to humor her flirting.
“Well, if it isn’t Zack Marin. Looking more handsome every time I see you. You’re quite the man now, aren’t you?”
I ignore her. “What’s the total?”
“Twenty even.” She doesn’t make any more comments, but I feel her glare burning into my forehead.
I toss a twenty-dollar bill at her and grab my supplies, leaving without so much as a goodbye.
It’s time for the rest of my life to get started—my life with Brianna—and I can’t wait.